Mum’s not the word

Beat reporters covering the Colorado football program breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday when Buffaloes coach Dan Hawkins said he would never silence his players or assistant coaches.

The question was asked in reference to Nebraska coach Bo Pelini making everybody else off limits to postgame interviews following the Cornhuskers’ 62-28 loss at Oklahoma last Saturday.

“I don’t think that’s healthy, for a variety of reasons,” Hawkins said during his weekly media luncheon. “I know when our assistant coaches go speak, people say, ‘They sound just like you.’ So (allowing them to speak) brings more unity than disunity.

“And they all have great opinions.’’

But, Hawkins added, no inflammatory remarks about the opponent, please.

Said Hawkins: “I tell the players, ‘It’s America. It’s freedom of speech. You have the right to say anything you want. But I’m just telling you this: You give out bulletin-board material, I can tell you 100,000 times that it comes back to haunt you.’

“I told them that there’s only one guy that was able to do it. That was Muhammad Ali. He got away with it. Everybody else? They pay for it.’’

Some coaches fail to understand that the media serves as a conduit to the fans. Muzzling players and cutting off interview opportunities only hurts the fans. Reporters get paid either way. But fans are penalized when they can’t read or hear what players and coaches are thinking.

A friend told me that he will not read an article unless it includes quotes from a voice other than that of the writer. I’m sure he is not alone.

Lee Barfknecht, a terrific sports reporter who covers Big 12 football for the Omaha World-Herald, put it best when writing that fans, ticket buyers and, yes, donors, crave as much information as possible about their team.

When Hawkins was talking about all the “advice” that coaches receive from talk shows and Internet message boards, he thought about his son, sophomore quarterback Cody Hawkins.

Cody has said that he aspires to follow in the footsteps of his father.

“I think Cody will be a good coach, he’ll be a great coach,” Dan Hawkins said. “But I’ll be honest with you, he has seen what his dad has gone through, and I don’t know that he’s all that enamored with being a college coach.

“Now, what he’s going to find out is there is going to be some of the same issues in high school. There’s going to be some of that same stuff. But he’s going, ‘I love kids, and I love to coach football. But I don’t know about the other stuff.’’’

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Dan Hawkins joked to reporters about surveying his players at mid-season. The evaluations are returned anonymously.

“They all want better food at the training table,” Hawkins said with a smile.

The coach added that he is serious about getting feedback. Players also are surveyed at the conclusion of the regular season and following spring drills.

“How else do you get better?’’ he said. “Every place I’ve been, I’ve allowed players to evaluate me.”

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I’m surprised by how upbeat that CU players and coaches have remained during the current slide of five losses in six games.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be. The roster is young and full of optimism for the future. The smallish senior class has taken the youngsters under their wing while staying focused on the next game.

That’s a testament to the kind of kids that Hawkins and his staff are recruiting into the program. Former CU coach Gary Barnett deserves some props for the character of the upperclassmen. It’s a solid group.

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Passing along a funny line from Ohio State men’s basketball coach Thad Matta that I spotted in the Buckeye Sports Bulletin.

Here’s the setup: In a recent silent-auction fundraiser, Ohio State awarded two seats directly behind the Buckeyes’ bench for a conference game against Indiana. The winning bid was $1,000 but Matta offered a warning to the recipients: